The Illustrated History of the Four Horsemen

Part 4: Gestation - The Payback for a Rescue- This incident began with a cage match for the NWA World Championship between Ric Flair and the "Russian Nightmare" Nikita Koloff. Koloff had lost the match and the Russians decided to exact some revenge on the spot (see photo above). Nikita'a uncle Ivan entered the cage and they began to work Flair over while their henchman, Krusher Kruschev, guarded the door.

Dusty Rhodes was in the arena and, despite his differences with Flair, he decided to go to the rescue. He cleaned house as Flair slumped on the mat. When he finally turned his attention to the injured Champion, Flair seemed to reach out to him but then began to point his finger.

As Dusty tried to reason with Flair, the Andersons hit the ring. Before Rhodes could react to this new turn of events they were on him. The Champion went over and locked the cage door, then joined the frey! After kicking Rhodes viciously behind the knee, Flair directed the Anderson to position Dusty as he climbed to the top rope and then came down on his rival's ankle.

Now Dusty's friends (including Magnum TA, Terry Taylor and the Rock & Roll Express) began to show up around ringside. Desparately they tried to get into the ring as the Andersons and Flair continued to pound on Dusty's injured leg. Finally they got the cage door open and drove the attackers off.

As Rhodes writhed in agony, Promoter Davis Crockett entered the ring with Terry Taylor to try and treat the now severly injured ankle. Dusty's face is etched with pain as he is cradled by Ricky Morton in this scene. The ankle was not broken but he did suffer severly torn ligiments.

Back to Solie's Vintage
Wrestling This page is a personal tribute and is in no
way connected to any of the
wrestling promotions mentioned on it. It
is dedicated to the Dean of Wrestling
announcers, Gordon
Solie.